videopodcast for learning Russian
Watch the episode of the Russian talk-show «Актуальный вопрос» hosted by Aleksandr Shcherbakov. A topic of this show, the most preferred social networking site in Russia Vkontakte.ru, serves as a discussion thread for the episode. In the previewing stage you may answer talk aobut the many potential problems with social networking sites for the teenagers who use them.
To make these activities more efficient in langauge classroom, try to explicitly connect the infromation you will discuss with something you already know. To put this in an American context, Vkontakte is the same as Facebook, i.e. an online platform which gives young people opportunities to share their photos and opinions on real-time ongoing events among friends, update their status and instantly react and interact with each other, ask questions, share and discuss their know-how, organize and promote their own events.
Think of the social benefits of Facebook, such as making new friends, staying in touch with current friends, making social plans with the friends, interacting with others who share the same interests, getting constructive feedback on ongoing projects. Along with these benefits come some risks. Discuss the risks of Facebook. The discussion should include asking questions, predicting, visualizing, making connections to prior knowledge, and evaluating positives and negatives of the networking sites.
Watch the episode to pay close attention to the format and the participants of this talk-show, its opening, outstreet surveys that aid discussion. Also watch for the clues -- what really turns participants on.
Discuss the Russian talk show culture, and compare the style of this talk show with that of the notorious show One on One. One of 1995 episode One on One you might watch as it was shown on CNN all around the world: an eccentric Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky called a controversial presidential candidate Boris Nemtsov a "scumbag" and a "bastard." The men then threw orange juice in each other's faces.
Organize a discussion “Five reasons social networking works/ doesn’t work”
Can you sound like this talk show host and those being interviewed? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARr721No-Is]